Third of TransPennine trains cancelled on first day of timetable to add services

A TransPennine Express train approaches Piccadilly station in Manchester last month. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Almost a third of TransPennine Express train services have been cancelled on a “dreadful” first full day of a winter timetable that is supposed to improve connectivity on key rail routes.

The timetable should have meant hundreds of extra trains added to Britain’s beleaguered rail network, including the resumption of three services an hour to and from Manchester to London on Avanti West Coast.